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Good news shout out, December 18

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Born out of frustration that mainstream news only promotes the negative, we're bringing you a regular fix of the good news buried underneath the bad. Happy Friday!

Watching mainstream media, you might sometimes feel like human beings are determined to screw up the planet and everyone on it. Yet, all around the world, amazing people – just like you – are coming up with new ways of living, loving and doing business to create a better future for us all. So we’ve decided to dedicate a regular blog to shout out some of the good news we’ve seen each week. Here’s this week’s shout out:

As the dust settles on COP21, cities around the globe are already beginning to implement huge emission reduction plans, with Mayors taking action to drive a low-carbon transition. During the Paris climate talks, 640 Mayors gathered to announce plans for cities to deliver annual a combined annual reduction of 3.7 gigatons in emissions by 2030.

American cities are already engaging with these targets, as San Francisco and San Diego have both gained approvals for climate action plans that will see emissions halved over the next 20 years.

Mayor Edwin Lee announced that the City of San Francisco has now completely cut out the use of petroleum diesel across the city's diesel fleet. “San Francisco and cities worldwide must continue to lead by taking bold actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately," Lee said.

No stranger to winning on the court, Michael Jordan‘s latest victory came in court, with dozens of Chicago charities benefitting from the win. Basketball legend, Jordan is taking all the award money from a lawsuit settlement and donating it to 23 non-profit organizations, which work to improve the lives of the city’s youth.

Jordan won $8.9 million in a judgement against supermarket chain Dominick’s in August, after they used his likeness and jersey number in a magazine ad in 2009 without his permission. “The 23 charities I’ve chosen to make donations to all support the health, education and well-being of the kids of Chicago,” Jordan said in a statement. “Chicago has given me so much and I want to give back to its kids – the city’s future.”

According to new analysis by the New Climate Economy (NCE), Positive discussions about the climate action and economic growth nexus on social media have increased by 700 per cent over the past three years.

Measuring key terms such as 'climate', 'environment', 'CO2', 'global warming', 'economy', 'GDP' and 'degrowth', the research found that messages in support of climate action combined with economic growth had risen by 1500 per cent, while negative commentary on climate action decreased by 15 per cent over the same three-year period.

Programme Director of the New Climate Economy, Helen Mountford said, “The positive shift in how people are talking about climate action and economic growth is striking.”

Bike New York assembled and distributed 1,000 bikes for kids enrolled in their bicycle education classes in New York City

In other news...

Ireland plans to wipe out 95 per cent of carbon emissions – Ireland has revealed an ambitious new plan to eliminate fossil fuels from its energy system by the end of the century, in a move the country's Energy Minister Alex White said would transform the country's attitude to energy use